Happy Holidays!

I feel like I have not stopped eating since early November ! The eating won't stop either until we return from Florida on Jan 10th. We have been having a huge holiday season so far, around 20 people for Thanksgiving and Christmas eve was even crazier with around 25 people! It has been family dinner after family dinner and eating candy/cookies in between. A weird domestic side of me decided to show itself. I made split pea soup, buckeyes, and peanut butter cookies with the Hershey kiss in the middle. We actually had to skip leaving the chocolate chip cookies for Santa this year because neither of us could stomach the sight of another cookie! Here is our Christmas day in short: Pancake breakfast, presents, skype with family, Hawkins house for more presents, nap, and then dinner at Uncle Hanks. It was a day filled with joy and warmth. I hate preparing for Christmas but I must admit Christmas day is one of the most wonderful celebrations in life. I don't think Grady has fully grasped the concept of it but watching him open gifts was so much fun. Nearing the last few gifts, he really got into opening them and it was so cute. Being on the other side of things for the holidays is a whole new experience and I must say I love it! Christmas kind of got lost for a few years but now that Grady has joined us, it is back. I get to relive the holiday through him and it reminds me of how exciting it all used to be! This video says it all :). Thank you family for making Christmas so special for Grady. He loves all of his gifts. Happy Holidays!

Moments like these

I have been away from the blog for awhile because this time of year is always so crazy! I am half expecting to look in the mirror and see that my head is on backwards. To add on to the holiday mumbo jumbo, hurricane Grady hits our house every day! When he is finished drinking he dumps his sippy cup upside down and shakes the contents out. Then he plays in the mess. Once I realize what he is doing, I stop him but then he is off to the pantry and unloading it! He must think I am always hungry as he is constantly bringing me snacks. When the day is done the destruction of Grady is impressive. I would categorize him as a level 5 hurricane. keeping up with him is quite tiring and right when I think I just can't do this whole "mom" thing he goes and does something so cute and heart melting. It's moments like these, that keep me in the game. It's moments like these that erase every annoyed fiber in my body. Having him run up to me and say, "Momma" with a huge smile is all it takes. There are so many of these moments that I can't keep count. I recorded one of my favorites. I don't know why, but something about a baby pointing out their belly button is one of the cutest things ever to me!

Our pets

Our pets are a HUGE part of this family. With four pets, two cats, and two dogs, our house is not nearly as clean as I would like it to be. I sometimes get embarrassed actually because the walls are a mess due to slobber and eye goop. Hair balls can be spotted under the couch, and other places that I refuse to even look at. Our carpet upstairs has many stains, and if you walk by the designated litter box room you will get whiff of something special. The door frame is scratched up and corners of some window frames seem to be mysteriously missing. Would I trade our pets in for a sparkling clean house? Absolutely NOT! It's a small price to pay for the unconditional LOVE a pet will always give you. We recently found out that Dante our 6 year old boxer has lymphatic cancer. This is the beginning of our hearts breaking. I have been mentally preparing for our cat claude who is 13 yrs old to be the first of our pets to go. NOT DANTE!! I am not ready for this. We got blind sided with this sad news. With Chemotherapy he may get a good two years in, but I am hoping/praying that he will be in the small percentage that beats cancer! He is a strong dog, I know he will fight! Dante is so sweet in nature and hands down the best behaved out of our pets. He slobbers and kisses the most, and just wants to love, love, love! The best part of my day is when I get everyone out for a walk. I love it so much because it makes them so happy! Grady's first word was, "dante". He calls and looks for him in the house when he is not around. He will call out, "dante" as he goes up the stairs to Dante's bed in search for him. THIS is what is going to make this all the more sad. I don't think I can handle this! I am already picturing Grady searching the house for Dante, and he won't be there. OH this hurts so bad. I keep periodically breaking down. How do I stay strong? How do I stay positive! I don't want these thoughts. Ok.........breathe.....breathe.......I have to pull myself together and start focusing on the good things. We caught Diesel on film doing one of his, "spazz outs" which Grady finds absolutely hysterical!

One is fun!

Grady has reached such a fun age! He is becoming more affectionate and giving us hugs/kisses. Well the kisses are kind of scary because it looks like he is going to bite you but then he just presses his face to yours. He is able to learn and repeat things, which is so fun to watch. Finally he responds back to things instead of staring at me like I am one crazy lady. His separation anxiety continues to be an issue but he will out grow it one day. I just hate that others mostly see him as fussy because he is so clingy to mom and dad. Glad I have video now to prove that he is not always serious and cranky. I hope the terrible two's are a horrible myth because I love things the way they are, and just want more of the good stuff! Wishful thinking.

Pumpkin Chuck

What did you do with your pumpkins after Halloween? Did you just throw them out or let them rot? BORING! We chucked ours at a really neat fundraiser event held in Mt. Washington at Stanbery park. Ok busted, we actually never even bought pumpkins this year. However for $2.00 you could catapult your pumpkin, or for $5.00 you could buy one to launch. Or you could have done what we did this year, and just watch everyone else chuck their pumpkins. Not only is this a fun way to get rid of your pumpkins but it also feeds the deer. There was face painting, food, and it was a gorgeous day to be at the park. It was a great way to spend a Saturday, we had so much fun!

The Iphone really can do it all!

The iphone can perform many tech tricks. I was very impressed to see it's latest app called, "Magnetism" When downloaded the app will act as a magnet to your child. I decided to give it a go, and, "Wow it really works!" The second I turned the app on, Grady walked to the iphone. It was the strangest thing. I encourage everyone with iphones to use this app for redirecting their child. Now I don't have to tell Grady, "No" when he is splashing around in the dog bowl. I can just place the iphone where I want him to be and turn on, "Magnetism". Don't worry the app is encoded so only your iphone works with your child. I know you were worried about strangers stealing your tot. Have no fear it is totally safe! Watch how it works, amazing!

Grady Stahl is the new Edward Cullen

Watch out Edward Cullen, there is a new lil vamp in town! Well at least for a night there was a new vamp making the ladies swoon. Oh and by ladies I probably really just mean, "His Mama thought he was adorable!" We are lucky to have friends who have a better neighborhood for trick or treating then we do. For the past couple of years, Mimi and Dave have been having an open house type deal on Halloween. They make chili and people come and go as they please. It is a great way to spend Halloween, we always have so much fun! Their son Oliver dressed as Elmo, it fit him perfectly and was a great costume! Our camera battery was not fully charged so I barely got pics. Perhaps I should just hire our own paparazzi? Wouldn't it be great if you never had to worry about getting pictures? Maybe for special events I will just hire Kim M, to stalk us :). On our way to the Gerwins we stopped off at the new Walmart off Redbank and picked up a wagon to pull our lil vamp in. It was one of the best decisions we ever made! He absolutely loved riding around town in a fun red wagon! Grady did not get the concept of free candy at first but by the last house he caught on. He tried his first sucker which he did not enjoy all that much, probably because it was root beer flavored. Ooops should have given him a better flavor to try. Although we don't really want him to like it anyway because that means more for us! Not sure how many more years we can get away with eating all his candy, this might have been the last one. Grady, "candy is gross." I just spit out the mini snickers bar you gave me because it was disgusting. I will have to continue to see how yucky it is before you eat it. It is for your own good, I promise.

Baby Steps

Grady is officially taking baby steps! He is not all out walking yet....but it won't be long. Really need to run out and buy that flip camera so I actually have a way of sharing videos! He is surprising us daily with things that he has learned. It is so neat when all of a sudden he does something new. He is using the signs to communicate, however they are not always in context. We have to decipher when he really means milk and when he just wants something. I am glad the tedious work of trying to teach them to him are finally starting to pay off. I will continue my efforts as it is neat to see him signing! He also has taken a break from saying dada and says, "Momma!" YAY! It made my morning when I heard him saying, "Momma" over the monitor! Chris is still the favorite but at least he is throwing a little love my way now. I'm sure for the rest of his life he will go through phases of liking one of us over the other. Then there will be times when he hates and loves us both equally :). As long as he knows we will always love him!

Where's the pumpkin patch?

QUIZ: How well do you know the Stahls? There is one false statement in this post, can you identify it?

We went to Gorman Heritage Farms over the weekend in the hopes to wander through a pumpkin patch field. First we stopped at Starbucks so I could get into the spirit of things with a pumpkin spiced latte, yum. Then we sang pumpkin songs for the duration of the car ride there. Once we got to the farm we immediately took a nice little hayride to the top of the hill. The first thing we saw was a beautiful sunflower field! It was so pretty. Across from the field were cows, moo. Grady can pick out the cow among his toys, but I wonder if he realized that he was looking at real live cows? Further down the path we got to see goats, chickens, and mules. I learned that goats say, "naaah", and not "baaah" like sheep. For some reason I completely forgot what noise a goat makes. I have been struggling when I get to the goat in Grady's book. I knew it was similar to the noise a sheep makes so I just kept saying, "baaah" for the goat. Poor Grady I hope he will not be confused. He was a little timid around the goats because of the incident at the Farmer and the Dell a few months back. I am still not sure what happened exactly but he really freaked out around the goats at that event. After seeing all of the flowers and animals we began to wonder where the pumpkin patch was. Every corner we turned I kept expecting to see a nice big field of pumpkins. However the path just curved around and took us to a cute little children's garden and a pile of already picked pumpkins. WHAT??! There was no actual pumpkin patch? I was very confused by this and a little disappointed but we had a nice little outing none the less. The colors were so pretty and we had so much fun meandering all over the farm. It really got me in the mood to start enjoying fall.

Look Mom, no hands!

I just wanted to write a quick blurb that finally as of today 10/13/09 ,Grady is taking an interest in trying to stand without any assistance! He will balance for a couple of seconds and look at us as if to say, "Look! Look, no hands!" It is very cute and we are proud, go Grady go!

A small Stahl rant

You will have to excuse me as I am about to go on a small rant. I wanted to post a cute video of one of Grady's favorite things to do now. Sounds so simple doesn't it? I should be able to hook up the camera to the computer, see the video, and then attach it to the blog. Well all I can do successfully is hook the darn camera up to the computer, yay me! I can't find the videos anywhere on the computer. Apparently the only way to open them is through an editing software, in which we have two, HD writer and Corel. Ah ha so after clicking a bunch of random files I have finally opened the clip in Corel. I am not an editing genius and have no clue how to use the Corel software. Again, I click on a bunch of different things and am probably just making things worse by doing so. Why not read the manual you ask? I DID! I DID! I have tried to follow the freaking manual and it just makes things worse! It tells me to do things just assuming I know what the heck it is talking about! Where is the manual for dummies? Why are these things not written out so a first grader can follow? Do they think that we must have some clue what we are doing since we bought such a high tech product in the first place? Perhaps it is just reminding us that we have no business owning such a product. Never again am I going to buy a gadget smarter then me, NEVER again! The clip is really cute. Grady likes to take what I call, "hot laps" around the house. He screeches with delight as he briskly walks behind a walker. He takes laps around the kitchen, dining, and living room. If you would like to see the video you can figure out how to get into Corel because that is where it is being held captive.....good luck to you!

The tradition continues

Cut outs are so amusing to me! Especially when we can get Grady behind one. HAHA


Girls pic! Stacey with Kiali, Me, and Jen.

Family pic! Horrible posing, oh well.

Grady might be the coolest little dude ever!

Oktoberfest really snuck up on us this year! We almost missed it! It is a must to at least make an appearence at the event. We introduced friends Jeff, Stacey and daughter Kiali to Oktoberfest. They are newbies to Cincy so we love to help them discover all the things this great city has to offer. It was funny because I told them to show up hungry and they listened. They had so much fun sampling all of the yummy food everywhere. I love German food, it's so good! There are rules I have come up with for Oktoberfest and they are: 1) eat a form of goetta, 2) acquire at least one piece of flare, 3) take a picture behind the cutouts, and 4) spot a fashion no-no. This year's big geotta hit was the geotta balls! I actually failed at the flare but Chris got a beaded necklace so that counts for both us. Ok that is lame I must do better next year. I did see a couple of fashion no-no's but did not get proof. Next year I need to better document the event and show that all tasks were accomplished! Our only documentation is of the cutouts, which you would think by now we would have perfected! We did a really bad job at posing this year but the addition of Grady totally makes up for it! Thank you to friend Jen (Auntie Jen) who held Grady in place.

Possible first word?

Ok so at what point do you consider a baby having said his/her first word? Is it when they clearly pronounce the word correctly? Or is it when they are looking at an object and say something that closely resembles the word? Grady knows who we are but is not saying a clear cut, "Mommy" or "Daddy". One time he pointed to Chris's picture and said, "Da!" One time! He has yet to repeat that trick. He also says,"mmm" when he really wants me to stop moving and pay attention to him. The real first word though I think is, drum roll please......"Dog!" He has been saying "Doh" for dog the last couple of months. When he wakes up in the morning he does not want to greet mommy or daddy, nooo he wants to say good morning to the dogs! He gets all excited and says, "Doh" until he sees them. He also says, "Doh" anytime he hears a dog bark anywhere. Does this count as the first word? Or does it not count because he is not pronouncing it correctly? This first word thing is confusing. I mean we could call, "Dad" his first word because "Da" was the first sound he was making. I will be surprised though if dog is not the first word he pronounces correctly. Unofficially I declare, "dog" to be his first word! His official first word is still to be determined....stay tuned.

OH CRAP!

Grady has not figured out how to walk or talk yet however he has learned to CLIMB! I watched him push this block across the room and then use it as a step stool to get up on the chair and back down again! The pictures are the sequence of him getting back down. Part of me is just amazed at how smart he is to have figured this all out, and part of me just thinks, "OH CRAP!" Ok so now we have a screamer and a climber, oh what a fun combo that is!! It is really neat to watch him discover things it gives me the warm and fuzzies all over. I just wish he would discover things like taking out the garbage, handing us a beer from the fridge, putting his toys away. Wouldn't it be so great if that is how it worked? Oh well, it is really cute to see how satisfied he is for accomplishing such a task. Way to go Grady we are so proud!

We have a SCREAMER!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Clearly whoever came up with this cute little phrase did not have a screamer! Please someone make Grady stop screaming! I am trying so hard to teach him some baby signs so he has a better way of communicating. However he still chooses to scream at us. He screams when he is hungry, he screams when he wants to be picked up, and he screams when he is tired. The high pitched schrill is far from a cute baby babble. When he airs out his lungs in public, heads are quick to turn our way and it is so embarrassing! Needless to say now more then ever trips out have to be well planned. I love you Grady but please end this phase soon, pretty please :)

Our little morph babies

1 2
34

56
78

Ok so usually while Grady is taking his nap I am productive and get things done like clean the house, pay the bills, do laundry, clean the litter boxes, tire the dogs out in the yard, prepare Grady's next bottle/meal.....etc. However that all went out the window yesterday when I discovered this website, www.morphthing.com I easily became hooked on morphing babies out of our pictures and friends pictures. I don't know why but I just get such a kick out of this! I want to morph everyone! I think after making nine, yes nine morph babies I have gotten it all out of my system. We ended up with one really good looking morph and of course that is probably the one that looks least like us, so I don't know where he came from? HAHA. If you are wondering why there are only eight morphs pictured it's because #5 was a repeated image from different pictures, it is just a morph that is meant to be I guess. Number two is a real dork, and who the heck is number 4? She reminds me of Rossanne Bar, yikes!! I don't know what happened to number 3's lips but I can see a little bit of Grady in him which is so freaky! Except obviously Grady is a much better looking dude. Do you see Grady in any of these? It is ok if you think it is the dork. Which one do you think looks the most and the least like us? Be careful if you decide to enter that website, it could lead to an hour or two of procrastination!

Bye bye morph you later :)